Staff Report

Archbishop of Cincinnati Dennis M. Schnurr will speak at at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at The James and Caroline Duff Banquet Center in the Cintas Center at Xavier University, to mark the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate: The Declaration on Relations of the Church to Non-Christian Religions.

The archbishop will offer opening remarks at the event, which is free and open to the public. Also speaking are Representative of the Council of Jewish Institutions of France Yonathon Arfi, Jesuit Father Francis X. Clooney from Harvard University and Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University. Refreshments will be served.

Nostra Aetate (translated: In our time) was a historic document that came out of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. It was promulgated by Pope Paul VI and has been cited by his successors in establishing better ties with major world religions.

“In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions,” the document opens. “In her task of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship.”

Titled, “The Power of Interfaith Collaboration: Responsibility and Hope for a World in Conflict,” the event is sponsored by The President’s Office of Xavier University in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, The Department of Theology, Xavier University, The Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati, Program of Catholic Studies, University of Cincinnati, Bellarmine Chapel, The Center for Mission & Identity, Xavier University, Jewish Community Relations Council and the Brueggeman Center for Dialogue.

Posted Oct. 16, 2015